St.O'Donnell's Select Gallery #005 : Cabu

Cabu has a special place in our hearts at St.O'Donnell. Having been one of the first ever artists to play our Select Gallery series, and later becoming a family member of our management roster, it was only fitting that after his inaugural Australian tour he plays our fifth Select Gallery.

Having won over the hearts of many in 2017 with his debut EP, Twenty Three, Cabu has been busy working on his next release, perfecting his live show and creating his very first merch line.
Leading up to his appearance at Select Gallery, Cabu sat down with Sasha to talk us through his writing process and what we can expect next from him.

When did you start making music?

I dabbled with guitar since I was about 10 and at the time I was just trying to learn from YouTube tutorials of the easiest songs like ‘smoke on the water’ or ‘stairway to heaven’ and anything that sounded cool with minimal effort, but I never really got that great at it.

After that I played around with a dj software called ‘virtual dj’ where I made little edits and mashups of electro songs at the time and looking back I feel like it taught me a lot about song structure.

But I seriously started making music right after high school around early 2013 when I bought an iPad app that’s simulates a mpc and it really got me into making drum loops and sampling, from there I forced myself one weekend and I downloaded fruity loops and it opened a door for me creatively and I started making beats every day.

How would you describe your sound?

Currently I would describe my sound as just chill rnb and something I think that is just simple and easy to listen to music, but at the same time injecting a soulful aspect to it or at least I try to.

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Your EP “Twenty Three” was released earlier this year – what was the process of creating that like?

The process for creating “Twenty Three” was really great, which was something I’m blessed to have experienced, the beats and skeletons of those tracks were made within a week and I sat on them for a while making incremental additions to it and trying not to force anything out of those songs with the intention of having singers and vocalists on it, so it had some room for them to create.

The first vocal demo I got back was from Love Mansuy and he absolutely killed it and it set the tone for the entire EP.

You’ve just come off your “Twenty Three” Australian tour - what was it like performing all over the nation?

It was an amazing experience and is something that was a dream of mine getting to play my music for a live crowd and meeting people that listened to my music all around Australia solely based on stuff that I made in my bedroom.

The travelling and checking into hotels and waiting around along with the anxiety and nervousness of the build up to the show made it all worth it once I was in that dj booth, it always reminded me of why I love doing what I do.

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What’s the best musical advice you’ve been given?

“Do what you Love, Love what you do” – Ta-kuSuper simple, kind of cheesy but I love that piece of advice.

What can we expect to see at Select Gallery 2018?

For the Select Gallery I’m going to be showcasing a live set with the help of some talented friends along with a merch line designed by me that I’m super excited for everyone see.